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pinneped(s) are sea lions, not seals.. how do i know? Their very name tells me so!
and its so interesting!
Pinna--(or pinnae or pinnas) comes from the latin word for feather-- (and is related to the word PEN) --but anatomically it means an external ear; botanically it is the term for the primate division of a pinnately compound leaf (ie, something like a fern); zoologically, it means a feather, wing, fin or similar structure.
Now my Websters (shame on it!) says a pinniped is so named because it has pinnipeds--winged feet!
but sea lions, unlike seals have external ears! gottcha! the anatomical defination is the one that is most significant, not the webbed feet! and that's how you tell a seal from a sea lion at the zoo! (or aquarium)or if you are lucky enough, at the shore!
Did i mention i grew up with in walking distance of the Bronx Zoo-- and when i was a kid, it was free? In family group photos, i am never facing the camera, i am reading the informational plaque on the exhibit!
I am sure there are other great words associated with cats and dogs, domestic animals and non-domestic animals.. not adjectives.. but lovely great words--like pinnipeds-- so haul them on out! other wise i am going to feel like are a real word geek!
Chambers says "...paddle footed Carnivora - the seals, sea-lions and walruses".
So what about otters Mr Chambers?
stales
) doesn't even HAVE the word pinniped! But it says that pinna is: "a leaflet of a pinnate leaf, or similar expansion; a wing, fin (EA), feather, or similar expansion; the outer ear, esp. the upper part.
Ooh, I feel like one of the big boys, now! :-)
Here's a weird word with a weird meaning: "pinnatifid: pinnately cut nearly or about halfway down." Now--what in the world could have prompted the need for a word for that??
One thing that may be adding to the confusion: we US'ns have been, for whatever reasons, taught to think of sea lions as seals, and vice versa. Probably the movies. I cannot (speaking of hard-wired learning) now picture a seal and think "seal"--I have to first picture, say, the starring animal in 'Sammy, the Way Out Seal', and THEN think, "Oh, yeah--that's really a sea lion". Sigh.
I see stales has posted something else that fits this category: right whale. (stales, are you bringing out the 'animal' in us ladies?)
the same carousing seamen, on board Greenland whaling ships, for whom the word mallemaroking was coined named the "right whale" -- that being the type of whale that they wanted to catch, as opposed to the "wrong whale".
-joe (non) whalo
No, no, Namu...they named it that, because, setting sail from Greenland, they had to make a right turn to get to where these whales were.wink
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